Sunday, September 3, 2006

I'm sitting here, typing away to the sounds of Dylan’s latest effort. He's a piece from the album called Working Man's Blues 2.

There's an evenin' haze settlin' over townStarlight by the edge of the creekThe buyin' power of the proletariat's gone downMoney's gettin' shallow and weakWell, the place I love best is a sweet memoryIt's a new path that we trodThey say low wages are a realityIf we want to compete abroad

My cruel weapons have been put on the shelfCome sit down on my kneeYou are dearer to me than myselfAs you yourself can seeWhile I'm listening to the steel rails humGot both eyes tight shutJust sitting here trying to keep the hunger fromCreeping it's way into my gut

Well, I'm sailin' on back, ready for the long haulTossed by the winds and the seasI'll drag 'em all down to hell and I'll stand 'em at the wallI'll sell 'em to their enemiesI'm tryin' to feed my soul with thoughtGonna sleep off the rest of the daySometimes no one wants what we gotSometimes you can't give it away

Now the place is ringed with countless foesSome of them may be deaf and dumbNo man, no woman knowsThe hour that sorrow will comeIn the dark I hear the night birds callI can feel a lover's breathI sleep in the kitchen with my feet in the hallSleep is like a temporary death

Meet me at the bottom, don't lag behindBring me my boots and shoesYou can hang back or fight your best on the frontlineSing a little bit of these workingman's blues

Well, they burned my barn, and they stole my horseI can't save a dimeI got to be careful, I don't want to be forcedInto a life of continual crimeI can see for myself that the sun is sinkingHow I wish you were here to seeTell me now, am I wrong in thinkingThat you have forgotten me?

Now they worry and they hurry and they fuss and they fretThey waste your nights and daysThem I will forgetBut you I'll remember alwaysOld memories of you to me have clungYou've wounded me with your wordsGonna have to straighten out your tongueIt's all true, everything you've heard

n you, my friend, I find no blameWanna look in my eyes, please doNo one can ever claimThat I took up arms against youAll across the peaceful sacred fieldsThey will lay you lowThey'll break your horns and slash you with steelI say it so it must be so

Now I'm down on my luck and I'm black and blueGonna give you another chanceI'm all alone and I'm expecting youTo lead me off in a cheerful danceI got a brand new suit and a brand new wifeI can live on rice and beansSome people never worked a day in their lifeDon't know what work even means

Why does it seem that the majority in our social order are drugged and working to get to the top of the deluded heap through acts of desperation and calumny? What is achieved through the games that we play? Some people shine with an eerie glow of self-assurance while silently scheming the next act of showmanship to sell themselves to their higher-ups as worthy of promotion and more power in the game, while others struggle against scheme until they finally succumb to whatever is their greatest personal strength and most anemic affliction in the face of the powers and currents in our society. The system we live in mirrors humanity's halting progress, with each struggle etching its way on the rules, piling ethical weakness upon strength. Each individual is much the same, with an added dimension: each is surrounded by others struggling just as mightily to find security and happiness, the strength of the collective behind every individual's acts, for good or ill, with edification or destruction the result.People fight against what they see as wicked or wrong, almost viscerally and instinctually. They do so from a position that they see as strength, whether that is godly, intellectual or simply moral. Humans rally around common goals through war, religion, crusade, cause or revenge. Those who rally are bestowed with a feeling of justification and strength as the goal benefits from the strength generated. It doesn't matter whether that goal is truly correct or right, it just matters that the goal accumulates power in numbers and opinion. Throughout history, the weak in mind, morals, perception, numbers, or finances have been perceived by others as 'wrong' and often, 'evil.' The fault of villainy has been pinned on all manner of weakness since the beginning of time. The Jews had their scapegoats, Christians their blasphemers, Muslims their heretics and secularists their hopeless fools. The strength of purpose infused by the agreed application of the label of 'other' at some level has benefited nearly every association, whether with a membership of millions or of a person dealing with one’s own self. It’s an inherent tactic of basal human psychology.It doesn't matter whether there is a moral, ethical or godly imperative; the scapegoat loses strength as the majority group becomes stronger. That sort of strength often gains momentum unless it arouses an opposing force able to rally opinion and force that breaks the wave of destruction against the 'other.' It's that simple. Even in our virtuous republic, the working man remains weak in the social order until he realizes that work doesn't beget power. It only enriches powerbrokers over him while they dole out tokens of recreation and diversion. If he breaks free of the system somehow to create a separate peace instead of selling out or buying in, he only calls upon himself the wrath of those who were formerly his taskmasters who label him 'insane,' 'delusional,' 'rabble-rouser,' or plain wrong. If such a person accumulates followers or comrades, the full force of the majority is called upon to condemn the outsiders as a cult, as dangerous mavericks or troublemakers. If the formerly powerless person or group feels threatened and begins to amass monetary and martial power and postures to defend, law and government often become active in condemnation of the outsider. If the situation escalates a bit more in either camp, the outsider elicits the most unmitigated scapegoat labels of our time, correctly or not, of subversive or "terrorist." Why must this be? Why do so many people who cannot abide this world's ways resort to disengagement, crime, and violence or fall victim to isolation, sadness and suicide? Why must we, who call ourselves enlightened and rational act in such a benighted and irrational way as to carry on the foolish traditions of our ancestors in scapegoating those who might lead us out of our most savage and selfish ways? The answer is, I reckon, a blowin' in the wind before our own eyes. History can be our best teacher, and change our best friend, unless we wish to remain in our worst of destructive behaviors, condemning that which might lead us to better ways.